Canada is Better.

Why I’m voting Tea Party

YouDiscussedMe — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:56:07 +0000

I actually think this is pretty accurate.

Wilfrid Laurier as Mr. Spock on the five dollar bill

YouDiscussedMe — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:47:59 +0000

A fitting tribute to Canada’s seventh Prime Minister. And the similarities to Star Trek’s Mr. Spock are extensive.

Where Laurier said (of English and French Canadians living together):

Two races share today the soil of Canada. These people had not always been friends. But I hasten to say it. There is no longer any family here but the human family. It matters not the language people speak, or the altars at which they kneel.

Mr. Spock said (in ‘City on the Edge of Forever’):

I am endeavoring, ma’am, to construct a mnemonic circuit using stone knives and bearskins.

So, you see, there are a lot of similarities.

Dave Foley explains Canada to Americans

YouDiscussedMe — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:48:17 +0000

Dug up from the archives, here’s Kid in the Hall Dave Foley (who for some reason was appearing on the first season of Mad TV) explaining the intricacies of Canada to his American audience.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJUgu9qr8wI

Canadian embassies around the world. Travellers, aim here when running for your life.

YouDiscussedMe — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:30:14 +0000

So there you are, having just dodged an assassin’s hail of bullets in a seedy Zagreb saloon, and now you’re sprinting for your life down Prilaz Gjure Dezelica, the maple leaf on your MEC backpack just a blur as you dodge and weave down the street, looking for a place to hide until the Croatian mafia that’s hunting you loses interest. Where do you go?

Why Prilaz Gjure Dezelica 4 10000 Zagreb, of course. There you’ll find honest-to-goodness Canadian soil, some well-armed mounties (I think) and Edwin Loughlin, Canada’s Ambassador to Croatia, who just might be inclined to help you out.

That flag badge on your backpack will probably generate some goodwill with locals on the streets, but your Canadian passport might actually buy you some good ol’ diplomatic assistance that your taxes pay for.

For your convenience, Canada is Better is happy to showcase some of Canada’s overseas embassies – our homes away from home.

Canadian Dollar hits par with sad, sad, U.S. dollar.

YouDiscussedMe — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:16:45 +0000

Warm up the car, it’s time for some cross-border shopping! Yes, for the first time since 2007, the loonie has achieved parity with the sad, sickly, mostly-Chinese-owned U.S. greenback. And according to pretty much everyone, it’ll hover near or above par for the coming months, maybe years.

From the Globe:

Nonetheless, it’s hard to find a reason that the currency would drop more than a cent or two any time soon. Rising oil prices and a greater appetite for risk are pushing investors away from currencies like the U.S. dollar and toward those linked to commodity prices and strong economic growth. That’s on top of longer-term factors, such as central banks around the world buying Canadian dollars to diversify their currency reserves amid questions about the greenback and the euro and, more immediately, mounting signs that the Bank of Canada will start raising interest rates in June or July, well before the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.

Sure, it’s not great for Canadian manufacturing, which relies heavily on trade with our recession-drowning neighbours to the south, but it still feels good to know that our obsessive online shopping will cost a little less moving forward.

links: Yahoo!, The Globe and Mail